NASCAR Racing This Weekend: Michigan And Canada

Welcome NASCAR race fans to my NASCAR blog. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is racing in the Irish Hills of Michigan at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mi. for the Pure Michigan 400 race on Sunday. This is the twenty-third race of the season. MIS is a two mile D-Shaped oval with lots of room to race and pass. A favorite track of mine, with few caution flags. Practice was this morning, with 17 Matt Kenseth being the fastest in the first practice and came out last in Coors Light Pole Qualifying Friday afternoon. He will start the race from the front row in second. 16 Greg Biffle captured the pole with a speed of 190.345 mph and 37.826 seconds around the two mile track. 39 Ryan Newman, 11 Denny Hamlin and 5 Mark Martin round out the top five starting positions. Johnny Sauter, driving the Robby Gordon 7 car, 46 Erik Darnell and 50 T. J. Bell will not be racing the Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is also in Michigan for the VFW 200. 89 Chris Lafferty was slowest in practice and will be the first driver to qualify on Saturday morning. 13 Johnny Sauter, 29 Parker Kligerman, 88 Matt Crafton, 3 Austin Dillon and 32 Mark Martin will be the last to qualify. They will race on Saturday.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series travels to the road course, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada for the NAPA Auto Parts 200. This track is a 2.7 mile road course and many Canadians will be attempting to qualify for this race. Pole Qualifying took place Friday afternoon, although it was not televised. 22 Jacque Villeneuve (yes, son of track owner) will start from the pole with a speed of 101.800(!) mph and 95.800(!) seconds around the track. 12 Alex Tagliani will start next to him on the front row. 38 Jason Leffler and 33 Scott Speed are in the second row. 18 Michael McDowell, 66 Steve Wallace, 99 Patrick Carpentier, 23 Alex Kennedy and 31 Justin Allgaier round out the top ten starting positions. They will race on Saturday. 60 is Billy Johnson, in for Cup driver, Carl Edwards. Many road course experts are in this race.